Phrynosoma coronatum, the coast horned lizard, ranges from central California west of the Sierra Nevada, south throughout southern California west of the Mojave Desert, throughout Baja California west of the Sierra Juarez and Sierra San Pedro Martir, Mexico. P. coronatum can be distinguished from other horned lizard species by the following: two rows of lateral abdominal fringe scales; two occipital spines, 3-4 times longer than basal width, not in contact; 4-5 temporal spines; smooth ventral scales; three or more rows of enlarged gular scales.

About the Species

This specimen (LACM 138354) was collected by RRM and Robert Montanucci 4.0 miles east of California Highway 33, Ventura County, California. It was made available to the University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray CT Facility for scanning by Dr. Wendy Hodges of the Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside. Funding for scanning was provided by a National Science Foundation grant (DBI-0204459) to Dr. Hodges. Funding for image processing was provided by a National Science Foundation Digital Libraries Initiative grant to Dr. Timothy Rowe of the Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin.